About this collection

Founded in 1941 out of the early work done in the home of black Central Area resident Edith Bown, the Center was first known as Friendship House, or Blessed Martin de Porres Center. The ministry served variously as day care for Central Area residents, and an interracial learning center which, among other things, provided catechism classes for youth. In the early days, sisters attached to Providence Hospital staffed the center, along with lay volunteers. The sisters withdrew from the ministry in 1971.